HELP!!!! Parasite spreading through tank?!?

[hannahmbatts]

Hi everyone,

My 20-gallon has been up and running for about 2 months now. I have 4 honey gourami, 5 guppies, and 3 mystery snails. 2 days ago I started to notice one of the gourami swimming irregularly and sitting at the bottom. I tested my water and everything is stable, so my first thought was swim bladder disease.

However, yesterday, I noticed one of the guppies laying on the bottom. This surprised me because my guppies are very active and eat. Sometimes my honeys don't eat because they are shy and relatively new to the tank. I went to my LFS yesterday, and was given a dose of a parasite treatment to put in the tank. The owner said to give it a few days and if more start to act weird/nothing changes, then add another dose. I am wondering if I should be doing anything else in the meantime... its so hard watching them like that.

I did a 30% water change 3 days ago, so I was told to hold off on another water change to limit stress on the fish. Thoughts?

Water parameters:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
GH 80
pH 7

 

[Jdk246]

Water parameters seems fine to me. I would quarantine the fishes that looks sick. Try aquarium salt, thats always the first thing i do to most sick fishes.

 

[hannahmbatts]

Water parameters seems fine to me. I would quarantine the fishes that looks sick. Try aquarium salt, thats always the first thing i do to most sick fishes.

I'm worried whatever the two fish have already spread into the tank....

Should I add aquarium salt to the 20-gallon to be safe?

 

[peddidle]

How did your lfs determine the problem is parasites? Do you have pictures of the sick fish?

 

[Jdk246]

you could also try out other general medication treatments. I wouldnt recommend using a parasite treatment as the fish would be more stressed if it wasnt suffering any parasites. Could be just the fish under stress and not some parasitic infections. 1tbsp of salt per gallon works for me.

 

[SavTheArtist]

Hi everyone,

My 20-gallon has been up and running for about 2 months now. I have 4 honey gourami, 5 guppies, and 3 mystery snails. 2 days ago I started to notice one of the gourami swimming irregularly and sitting at the bottom. I tested my water and everything is stable, so my first thought was swim bladder disease.

However, yesterday, I noticed one of the guppies laying on the bottom. This surprised me because my guppies are very active and eat. Sometimes my honeys don't eat because they are shy and relatively new to the tank. I went to my LFS yesterday, and was given a dose of a parasite treatment to put in the tank. The owner said to give it a few days and if more start to act weird/nothing changes, then add another dose. I am wondering if I should be doing anything else in the meantime... its so hard watching them like that.

I did a 30% water change 3 days ago, so I was told to hold off on another water change to limit stress on the fish. Thoughts?

Water parameters:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
GH 80
pH 7

Water parameters seems fine to me. I would quarantine the fishes that looks sick. Try aquarium salt, thats always the first thing i do to most sick fishes.

Actually... unless the tank is heavily planted, it seems that your tank is not cycled.

There should be nitrates unless you have a lot of plants.

Make sure you do your research, some fish cannot handle salt.

 

[SavTheArtist]

How did your lfs determine the problem is parasites? Do you have pictures of the sick fish?

you could also try out other general medication treatments. I wouldnt recommend using a parasite treatment as the fish would be more stressed if it wasnt suffering any parasites. Could be just the fish under stress and not some parasitic infections. 1tbsp of salt per gallon works for me.

I would also recommend holding off on any medication until you know for sure what the problem is. Often times the meds can cause more harm than good.

 

[hannahmbatts]

Actually... unless the tank is heavily planted, it seems that your tank is not cycled.

There should be nitrates unless you have a lot of plants.

Make sure you do your research, some fish cannot handle salt.

The tank is heavily planted and I had a nitrate spike a few weeks ago.

 

[hannahmbatts]

I would also recommend holding off on any medication until you know for sure what the problem is. Often times the meds can cause more harm than good.

Ok, I won't put that second dose in. For now I will try adding aquarium salt and hopefully that helps

 

[hannahmbatts]

How did your lfs determine the problem is parasites? Do you have pictures of the sick fish?

The LFS is assuming its a parasite/infection because when I first called to explain the problem, he thought it was swim bladder disease. I ended up bringing some videos and pictures of the sick fish to the store, and he said by the coloration (of the gourami) that he's afraid it might be a parasite. Especially since none of the fish are eating that much now. It's hard to get pictures of them where they are laying, but I can try to get clearer pictures if they move.

They haven't moved much today and I'm afraid they won't make it through the night. They don't seem to be in good shape at all

 

[hannahmbatts]

Update-- neither of the sick fish have moved all day. I'm going to go in with a net later, but I'm pretty sure they've passed/are about to.

 

[hannahmbatts]

Another update:

The gourami and guppy both passed this morning. The guppy looked like something had been nipping at him- there was a thin white film around his body. I removed them from the tank and added a small dose of prime.

The other guppies and gourami seem to be doing fine. No fish laying on the bottom or swimming weirdly. As far as the tank, I see nothing visibly wrong except for some green algae on the glass.. hopefully my snails will get to that.

Should I just bank on the fact that those were two unrelated deaths, or should I still watch incase there is some sort of infection going through the tank?